Barely Breathing
by Luna Quiche
Summary: On a mission George gets injured and falls comatose. The situation forces Akira to reconsider some of his opinions and set some entirely new priorities. PrezAki-ish


**A/N: This was written in one single go. A single go that lasted ten entire hours. At this point I'm not even sure what a word even is anymore. I should probably also warn you, this says 'PrezAki' and it focuses on their relationship, but it doesn't turn romantic per se. Could totally be taken as the foundation of romantic feels though.**

**(Also a lot of the plot outline credit goes to my dear friend Tael who thought up this verse -and countless others- with me a long time ago )**

Sometimes Akira wondered when it had stopped being an act of pity. Sometimes he wondered how the point at which he started doing it for his own sake as well just slipped past him without any notice.  
He closed the door softly and took a deep breath.  
"I'm back..." Akira took the obligatory desk chair and placed it next to the bed, before sitting down. It was a motion he had executed countless times before. "Hello, George."  
The unconscious face didn't greet back.

The call had been a shock to say the least. Akira'd just gotten out of the shower when his telephone rang. He was expecting a business call from his boss. While he didn't officially work for DUCK anymore, it had been arranged that he wouldn't run out of jobs or money anyway. But when he looked at his display, the caller ID wasn't that picture of a cheerful blonde man which he knew so well. Instead another council member's face smiled at him. Akira frowned in confusion. Immediately a bit of worry arose inside of him.  
Later, he remembered the call itself as if it had been a dream. The words were so unexpected that they sounded like an entirely foreign language. 'There has been an accident in dealing with the recent case. The civilians are safe and the situation is handled sufficiently, but Mr. Ace has been wounded severely. He's in a coma at the moment. His condition is stable, but we don't know if he will wake up again.'  
Akira recalled saying things like 'yes', 'hmh', 'how', 'which hospital' and 'I'll be there in two hours', but none of it seemed really relevant. Before he found it in him to get dressed properly and drive, Akira had to sit down and stare at empty air. He tried imagining George comatose and failed. He tried imagining George unconscious and failed. Then he tried to imagine George sleeping. Finally a faint, wavering mental image came up. The thought of him sleeping for days, weeks, months... Akira couldn't wrap his head around that.  
It wasn't that he was exactly close to his boss. After the Enoshima incident, their relationship had gotten much better, but they never exactly became friends. George was unbearably arrogant and manipulative. There were many sides of him Akira couldn't stand and they regularly got into fights. But even though they couldn't seem to get along for even a single hour, Akira couldn't help being deeply shaken at what had happened to the man.

At the hospital, Akira found himself faced with the entire remaining DUCK council. He'd imagined that they'd be pale, maybe crying even, seeing they and George knew each other so well, but none of that was the case. Gary King wore an even more serious face than usual and Big D appeared hectic, but the rest of them wore the same expression as usually. Even Hilary Queen, who he had thought to be the most sensitive of them, was just smiling as usually.  
Despite working in this organization for so long, Akira had rarely actually talked to the other council members, so it felt strange to have them address him directly. None of them were stretching his name obnoxiously and at least that should have been a plus, but it wasn't.  
"You're probably wondering why you were called to the hospital instead of only informed with a small text", Mina Jack opened the conversation. Akira shook his head. He hadn't even questioned it at all.  
"Well, anyway. So you see, we need to get back to the headquarters soon. But the thing is, his sister is flying here from London to see him. It's probably best for one of his people to welcome her, so could you take that on yourself?"  
'His sister'. George and a family. What an alien thought. But Akira nodded anyway. "Of course." He was still in too much shock to even consider anything else.  
They quickly brought him to George's room then. As they stood behind him, Akira could hear them talk. Their conversation was about work planning and replacements. Hillary was laughing a bit. Not a single word of worry. To Akira they now appeared as the emotionless monsters he'd always seen George as.  
But George...  
Akira felt his chest tighten.  
He'd never seen his boss without sunglasses before. But his eyes were closed, so it didn't feel like an achievement now. He'd also never seen his boss without make-up. He appeared strangely masculine like that, but with the pale skin of a fragile porcelain doll. His chest was rising and falling softly as he breathed, not alone but with the help of a medical mask. Akira had never thought about breath before. But now, in that moment, he realized how little air fluctuation it was that kept people alive. Only this little bit of air, an almost unnoticeable brush against one's skin. Moving a bit of hair maybe, a paper, but never a pen, a rock, the world. But with this little breath of a human being, George had always been trying to hold the entire planet and protect it. Akira wished he'd understood that sooner. Everything in Enoshima would have happened differently, had they only been able to see eye-to-eye. But who was he kidding? They still couldn't talk to each other at eye-level. Understanding, honesty... Those were never a part of their relationship.

The door behind him closed and Akira snapped out of his trance. Now he was alone in the room. Quietly he walked forward to observe George closer. Like this, he was almost a stranger to him.  
"Boss..." Akira spoke up, but his voice rang so loud and foreign through the empty room that he didn't continue.  
He had an hour before he would have to pick up George's sister from the airport. He never knew George had a sister. Naturally, it had never been of relevance to him either, but now it confused him to be this oblivious to his boss's life. After all, despite only being in a work relation, George was one of the people he talked most regularly to. His caller history and text message register spoke loud and clear on that.  
Akira closed his eyes and listened to the technical devices beeping softly.  
'We don't know if he will wake up again.'  
He tried to find a feeling inside his mind when thinking these words, but everything was just blank.

Akira recognized George's sister immediately, even though it was only because she was tall, blonde and looked really really shaken, the only woman of that kind on the entire flight. The resemblance to George ended there. Compared to him, she looked plain. Despite her sorrow, her face was friendly and warm, he could tell. She lacked all of her brother's flashy and mysterious ways.  
"Misses Ace?", he asked softly.  
She looked up and blinked in confusion before nodding. "Oh, right. I keep forgetting he changed his last name, too." A weak smile. "My last name is that of my husband though. I'm Ashley Williams."  
'Too'? So George also wasn't his first name. Another thing Akira hadn't known.  
"I see. It's nice to meet you. I'm Akira Agarkar Yamada, I'm working for your brother."  
"Yamada?", she repeated absentmindedly, "I always thought it was pronounced Yamaada."  
And there it was, the horrible and horribly wrong stretching of his name, sounding completely foreign not coming from George. Akira's eyes widened a bit. George talked about him to his family. Most likely to complain, Akira couldn't think of any other reason, but it still shocked him.  
"It's Yamada, yes. The other version is ... just something he does."

They drove to the hospital in silence. Akira kept glancing over at Ashley, but her expression was always blank. Considering she was possibly going to lose her younger brother, she was holding herself up really well.

It only changed when they entered the hospital room. Akira could see her steps growing shakier as the approached the bed and as she was in front of it, she just dropped down on the floor and buried her face in the blanket. Her shoulders were shaking and a few moments later Akira could hear her sob. There was nothing he could do in a situation like this, so he went outside to give her some space and waited for her to calm down. It took a long time, but he did not bother checking just how long.  
Even through the closed door he could hear her speak. 'Why... why you? I... I always told you to be c-careful... Weren't you coming over in two weeks? And now... now... Wake up, will you? As your older sister I... I tell you to.. wake up already...'  
No matter how much Akira tried to focus on something else, he couldn't block out her voice.  
Finally, Ashley came out him and wiped the tears from her face. "I'm... I'm sorry you had to see this. It's just... It's really strange to see him like that... Thank you for bringing me here. I'll go and take care of the duck now and then return. I'm not really sure how though..."  
Akira tilted his head. "The duck?"  
"His partner... Her name is Elizabetha, you might have seen her. My brother's colleagues told me I had to take care of her now that George can't... I can't really do that either though. My apartment doesn't allow animals, so I'm not sure what to do..."  
"I'll take her in."  
Akira was surprised by his own words. For a moment they just stared at each other in confusion. Akira cleared his throat.  
"If you don't mind, that is. I currently live in Dubai and I already own a duck, so I am experienced. I don't mind taking care of Elizabetha until he wakes up." That he was going to wake up was out of question, had to be out of question.  
Ashley smiled. "That'd be really nice. I'm going to stay here for two more days to settle some things and then I will fly back home to my family. We should exchange numbers, so you can call me, just in case."

The next time Akira visited George was three weeks later. He didn't know why he stayed away for so long. Of course he kept telling himself that George was only his boss and he didn't have any reason to visit him regularly, but even he himself was aware it was just empty excuses. Maybe it was because he was afraid of the undeniable truth that came with seeing George in this state. When he wasn't in hospital then he could at least pretend George would be well soon again. It didn't work sufficiently, especially not with Elizabetha in the house. The duck seemed depressed as well. Akira could understand her. If he and Tapioca were ever separated in such a way, he wouldn't know what to do.

As he came back to the hospital he was surprised to find George's room lacking any flowers or gifts. It was completely unchanged from when Ashley had last been there. As he asked a nurse about it, she just replied that nobody had come to visit since then. Akira thought back to the council members and how they had acted. He felt sick.  
George's silent face hadn't changed. How lonely.  
Akira paused in his own thoughts.  
Yes... Right. It was lonely. Terribly lonely. Other than his sister, nobody seemed to care for George at all. Akira recalled once being such a person once. But now he had Yuki, Haru and Natsuki as well as some local friends. They would worry, cover his hospital bed in flowers and visit however often they could, no matter where he was. Akira was confident of that. George however...  
When he'd wake up from his coma then there'd only be silence in a sterile white room. Akira's stomach twisted some more. Him and George never got along. He truly, truly detested the older man's attitude. But still, regardless of all negative feelings, he just couldn't let something like that happen to him.

"Hello boss", Akira started slowly, awkwardly shifting his position, "I think you'd like to hear that Elizabetha is doing fine, right...? Well, not fine fine, to be fair. She misses you terribly. But I think she settled in at my place by now. How much did you even spoil that duck? She's extremely picky about everything... But what did I expect, after all she is your partner..."  
The more he talked the more confident his voice became. It was actually nice, talking to George without having him constantly interrupt. Akira sat down by his bed and glanced around again. He'd have to bring some life into this room, too.

Since then, Akira did his best to stop by at the hospital at least two times a week. He supposed it was a bit condescending to act on pity like this, but then again he couldn't help it anyway. At least Ashley appreciated it, as she had told him over the phone. They didn't have long conversations, just little awkward talks about George's condition, but it felt good to keep in touch.

"Ah, Ashley Williams here. ... No it's nothing, it wasn't my idea to call, but the children's. Since you visit George so often they wanted you to deliver a message to him, is that okay?"  
Akira blinked and sat down on his bed. This was unexpected. He didn't know much about the children, just that they were called Joshua and Marlene and were 9 and 11 years old. "Yes, that's fine. What is it?"  
As he waited for the children to get to the phone, Akira wondered how George treated them. After being insulted as childish and immature so many times, he kind of couldn't imagine George to good with kids.  
"Hello, Mr. Yamaaada!" The boy's voice. And that intonation again.  
"Hello, Joshua. What is it that you want to tell Mr. Ace?" Akira said, trying to not sound intimidating.  
"Ah... Uncle George promised to come visit, but then this happened and he couldn't, but... I really wanted to tell him that I started building a model DUCK ship... It's not complete yet and it looks a bit weird... But I'm giving my best. That's why he needs to wake up. I really want him to see."  
Akira could practically hear how the boy tried to keep strong and bite back his tears. Then the girl was speaking. "And also tell him we love him, alright? He should never be so careless again, it's scary."  
After the call ended, Akira could feel himself shaking slightly. Letting himself fall back onto the bed he could hear the children's voices echo in his head.

"And he's building a model DUCK ship for you. If you don't wake up to see it then... That's just something too awful for even you to do. So please wake up. They love you. They want to see you again. They're scared..."  
George's pale face did not change in the slightest. It was as if he had been turned into a doll for real. Akira bit his lip.  
"...I'm scared, too."  
All these days...  
'He might never wake up again'  
...pushing it to the back of his mind...  
'Never wake up again'  
... it had been exhausting...  
'Never'  
Akira could feel his shoulders beginning to shake. But he was a man. He wouldn't cry and least of all he would cry in front of George. So he sat in silence as finally, for the first time, he allowed himself to comprehend how severe the situation was. George could die. There wouldn't be any more missions guided by him. There possibly wouldn't be any more obnoxious phone calls. There possibly wouldn't be any more 'Yama~da', any more insults, any more arrogance, any more slightly hinted respect... There possibly wouldn't be any more George Ace.  
Akira didn't want that. He reached out to touch the comatose man's hand. Never would he have done so under other circumstances, but now was an exception. It wasn't completely cold. Feeling that was reassuring. Without thinking further, Akira grabbed it tightly, holding onto it.  
"They're continuing the council without you, if you keep this up. Are you honestly fine with that? Don't tell me you're giving up control of this so easily. That's not like you. You're George Ace. You're better than all of them, better than me, better than the world. You always made a point of proving that. Don't be a hypocrite now. Just wake up."  
Only silence answered. Akira felt a sensation rise in his throat again, the urge to cry, unmistakably.  
"...out of all the things you ever did to people, this is the worst. You won. Now... wake up."  
As the tears streamed down his cheeks, Akira didn't feel ashamed anymore. And if George woke up to ridicule him, then that'd be fine... If only he woke up.

The Medclinic Dubai Mall had become very familiar to Akira over the months. It was nice and quiet and, above all, expensive. At his first visits, he had felt misplaced. Of course it would make sense for George to only be at the best of places, even when comatose, but he, Akira, didn't belong there. Now, a year and a half later, the nurses greeted him like he was one of the medical staff.  
"George, sometimes I begin to think your duck has an even worse personality than you. Yesterday she kept me up in the middle of the night. Even Tapioca got annoyed and they usually love each other."  
The things he told George had become more and more casual. Akira found that it was actually nice. He could talk about anything here. Of course he could also talk about anything with Tapioca, but sometimes even she didn't give the right advice. George was perfect for all that. Talking to him, Akira could sort his thoughts out and clear his mind. In his head, he could practically hear George laugh at him, advise him, mock him. Everything that had once been annoying now was comforting. It was a replacement for the constant phone calls, even though Akira still sometimes found himself staring at George's caller ID. He'd never thought that one day he'd miss these painted lips.

As he had started calling Ashley by her first name, Akira had also finally dropped the 'Mr. Ace'. 'George' seemed much more appropriate considering that he was now a friend of the family, if not a friend of George's. 'Friend'. It wasn't a word Akira consciously applied to George, not even in the privacy of his own thoughts. But despite that, what else could you consider him, after those countless hospital visits? It was complicated, once again. Faintly amusing how not even a coma could weaken that aspect of their connection.

"They say that some coma patients are actually aware of what's spoken around them, which is why talking to them helps. If that is true, I'll be incredibly embarrassed once you wake up... But if it isn't true, then all my visits would have been in vain- ... No, it'd still be fine."  
It'd have been too lonely. All this time. Alone in this room. Akira had to prevent that at all costs. 'Yama~da, your heart is too soft, that's foolish.' The words silently vibrated through Akira's mind as if they had been spoken.  
The light from the window gentle illuminated George's face.  
"Hah...", Akira smiled a little to himself, "Even so, you owe me..."

When George opened his eyes, he was terrified. He considered himself a rather fearless individual, but at that moment pure panic consumed him. The mission! He'd been on a mission. There had been danger. So how did it come that it all seemed so distant now, so far away? George was afraid of the light in the room. It took him a good moment until he could properly recognize where he was. A moment full of his heartbeat speeding up, full of adrenaline and terror. A beeping next to his head picked up pace as well and it did nothing to calm the blonde man down. He couldn't properly breathe, there was something on his mouth, he was completely helpless.  
But then it became all clear again. A hospital. Even though he had just been sleeping, George suddenly felt very tired again. It was all over. He had let his men down. Things like this shouldn't have happened. He should have known better. But despite that, he was alive.  
A nurse rushed in and an hour later he was held into an more upright position by pillows and actually breathed without support. It felt liberating.  
The nurse smiled. "I think I should call Mr. Yamada now, he'll be thrilled."  
George raised his eyebrows, trying to make sense of that. "Yama~da? What does he have to do with this?"  
Now it was the nurse's turn to be puzzled. "I assumed you were close. He's visited you at least twice a week, all this time."  
While George wanted to ask how long exactly 'all this time' even was, he was more confused by Akira's actions. 'Yama~da. You always go out of your way to do things that are useless, don't you?'

Akira felt himself having difficulties with driving carefully enough to not get into an accident of his own on the way to the hospital. George was awake. After all this time, George was awake. Of course he had never ever stopped believing that eventually he'd wake up again, but it had begun seeming like a distant dream rather than an event in near future. And now it had happened. The hospital had naturally called Ashley first and then Ashley had called him before the nurses even had a chance to. She'd been crying with happiness and Akira himself felt dizzy with a feeling he couldn't quite describe.  
He was light with relief and simultaneously heavy with nervous anticipation of how things would go on from now on. But these things would have to wait. He'd have to see him first, see him with his own eyes.  
He practically rushed through the halls, but right in front of the room he stopped, petrified. Walking in was the hardest task. It took him several minutes before his feet would start listening to him.

George was looking at the door when Akira walked in. Time seemed to stop as a mixture of feelings spread through the room and filled up every part of it. Akira took a deep breath, inhaling all these feelings in that soft stream of air that kept him alive.  
"So your eyes are blue. I never knew."  
He could have said 'welcome back' or something else that was at least slightly related to the situation, but this was all that came to his mind.  
George immediately sneered. "Thank you for reminding me of the compromising situation I am in, it is appreciated."  
"You haven't changed." Akira rolled his eyes. Luckily he never had forgotten how insufferable George's personality was, so there was no romantic bubble to burst. On the contrary, he felt his heart beat faster. George was back. The realization crept up from his toes and fingertips slowly, slowly, reaching his heart and mind. It was almost strange thinking that now he wouldn't be able to talk to him as openly again. Maybe he'd miss it. But Akira only now realized just how much he had also missed actually talking to George for real. 'A masochistic tendency?' he thought embarrassedly to himself. But the challenge talking to George provided him with was not to be underrated.  
"Neither have you, Yama~da" George replied and suddenly seemed deep in thought. Even though a pleased shiver ran down his spine at being called that, Akira cut him off.  
"Akira."  
For a moment it was quiet. George gave Akira questioning look. "We're on first name basis now?"  
Akira awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Actually, yes. I've been calling you 'George' for a year now. It didn't seem to be appropriate to continue saying 'Mr. Ace' when I am on first name basis with your sister, even."  
It was plain to see that this was a bit much information for George to take in at once. Akira could have mentally slapped himself for dropping so much on his maybe-still-boss all at once, but George recovered amazingly fast. Still an ace.  
"Allow me three questions then... First, since when is it common courtesy to decide these things without both involved people's consent? Second, how come you're in contact with my sister? And lastly... how long have I been asleep?"  
Before replying, Akira took the chair once again and sat down. 'Why is it me who has to tell him these things?' he wondered idly, but then his own mind immediately countered with a determined 'Who else would?'.  
"First off, it's not common courtesy, but I firmly believe that all I've done for you while you were being a sleeping beauty does excuse me for that. As for your second question: I met Ashley shortly after you fell comatose and since then we kept in contact since I am mostly constantly at Dubai and therefore much closer to you." He paused. "And now please stay calm, but... It's been two years."  
The next five minutes, George didn't speak a word, which was unusual enough for him when he was in an awake state. Akira couldn't stand the silence. "Look I-"  
"You've been coming here two times a week, for two entire years?", George suddenly said. His expression was unreadable,his tone questioning.  
Akira nodded. "And on top of that I took care of your duck partner as well." It gave Akira a mild feeling of satisfaction to have done so many important things for the man who almost constantly looked down on him.  
Suddenly George burst into laughter. "You're truly too soft.. It wasn't your duty, you won't be rewarded and yet you..."  
Two years. Twice a week.  
"... all that time..."  
The laughter stopped abruptly. Two years in which he otherwise would have been alone. Akira had been there, by his side. It only slowly sank in.  
"... thank you", he finally said and Akira almost fell off his chair. "Thank you... Akira."  
This time it was the Indian's turn to start laughing. Not a laughter of disbelief, but one full of relief, surprise and an overwhelming happiness. As much as he hated having George as the course of feeling good, Akira couldn't recall the last time he felt this euphoric.

He knew that the road ahead wasn't going to be easy. George had lost his position, possibly, he was disoriented and would have to learn to sit and walk and live a normal live all anew. That'd have to hurt him more than anything. In a hospital bed, without his sunglasses and make-up and uniform he looked plain and vulnerable. But Akira knew for a fact that George Ace wasn't going to be brought down by such a thing. And crazy as it was he wanted to assist him in developing back into the man he so loathed at times.  
He would regret it, he knew, in countless fights he would regret it, but then again he wouldn't because now he knew for a fact that the silence could be even worse. A life of irritation awaited him, he could feel it.  
Regardless, Akira couldn't wait to see George's face once he told him that to repay him for taking care of Elizabetha so long, he'd have to go fishing with him.  
Maybe it was time for him to teach someone else what he'd learned in Enoshima back then. So if he was going to waste his breath on arguing with George Ace forever and forever in order to do so, then Akira would at least know that his time it had been his own choice to do so.


End file.
